Problems for Wenger after opening-day Arsenal defeat

Problems for Wenger after opening-day Arsenal defeat

An opening-day Premier League defeat, a growing injury list and the weight of an unspent transfer kitty hang heavily over Arsenal as they head into Wednesday's Champions League playoff clash with Fenerbahce.

Arsenal suffered a shock 3-1 home defeat by Aston Villa on Saturday, finding themselves unable to capitalise on Olivier Giroud's early goal as Christian Benteke scored twice and full back Antonio Luna grabbed a debut goal for the visitors.

Matters were made worse by injuries to Kieran Gibbs, after a clash of heads with Andreas Weimann, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who came off second best in a challenge with Luna, and Bacary Sagna, Tomas Rosicky and Aaron Ramsey.

'It's a big disappointment to lose a game like that'

Should they lose the two-legged playoff against Fenerbahce and miss out on the Champions League for the first time, attracting big-name talent will become even harder.

Wenger acknowledged there were issues ahead of the first leg in Istanbul.

"It's a big disappointment to lose a game like that because we prepared well, apart from the fact the players were away on international duty," he told the club website.

"We started well and then suddenly everything went against us and in the end we lost 3-1 so it is a big blow and even when we had 10 men we had chances to come back to 2-2," added Wenger referring to Laurent Koscielny's 67th-minute sending off.

"Not only did we lose the game but we have a few injuries. We have problems with some players in terms of recovering for Wednesday night."

Image: Gabriel Agbonlahor of Aston Villa is challenged by Per Mertesacker of ArsenalPhotographs: Clive Mason/Getty Images